VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Senior guard Charles Clark (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) became the South Atlantic Conference's all-time leading scorer, but Carson-Newman (23-7) fell to fifth-ranked and second-seeded Queens (28-2) 92-73 Saturday evening at Timmons Arena.
Queens advances to the South Atlantic Conference title game to face top-ranked and top-seeded Lincoln Memorial.
Clark bypassed Wingate's Sean Barnette with a seven-point outing. Barnette now sits in second place all-time with 2,324 career points. Clark has 2,325 for his career.
The Royals opened up the game on a 13-3 run and never looked back, turning an 11-point halftime lead into a 22-point lead late before cruising to the 19-point win.
"The better team won today, there's no question about it," head coach Chuck Benson said. "Credit goes to Queens. I'm really disappointed though in the way our team performed today more or less from the go. There's no reason in this environment, at this time of the year to not be motivated and excited to perform. It seemed from the jump we were stuck in mud. It was both mental and physical. It was disheartening tonight after a lot of good performances this year. I can't really defend what we did on the floor, other than to say it's not what we expect from our players."
Carson-Newman was limited to a 36.8 percent shooting effort, it's second lowest of the season. The Eagles have now lost seven consecutive to the Royals.
Queens becomes the third team to beat a Chuck Benson-coached club three times in one season.
"I had guys throughout the last several weeks expressed a desire to play them again," Benson said. "I thought we had legit preparation. There was no indication in our preparation and practice settings that would lead me to believe we would perform the way we did today."
While Clark took over first place on the league's all-time scoring ledger, he was inefficient in doing so. He scored seven points, the third time since his sophomore season he's been held to single digits. He was 2-for-11 from the floor. One of Clark's made field goals was a goal tending.
2⃣3⃣2⃣5⃣ points for @birdclark1. The new @SAC_Athletics record holder for points in a career. pic.twitter.com/3gdHjWF0CM
— C-N Athletics (@CNathletics) March 4, 2018
"They do a great job on the ball, putting a good defender in Davis on him," Benson said. "They had multiple defenders congesting areas. Credit goes to them. I thought we had some strategies and some things that would work to find him opportunities.
"However, that was a lesser problem. We could not stop them. Their shotmaking was at another level. That led to our guys looking at the scoreboard instead of what they could control. That was the best defense they had."
Grant Teichmann led Carson-Newman with 22 points, he matched his career high for scoring and reset his career high for rebounding with nine collected caroms. Shaun Jones (Lawrenceville, Ga.) added in 17 points and nine rebounds, coming up just short of his 19th career double-double.
Malik Abraham (Snellville, Ga.) rounded out the Eagles' double-digit scorers with 11 on 4-of-14 shooting.
Queens had five players finish in double figures as a part of a 49.3 percent shooting effort.
Shawn Willett doubled his season average with 17 and collected a double-double with 11 rebounds. Ike Agusi chipped in 14. Daniel Carr, Jalin Alexander and Lewis Diankulu rounded things outh with 13, 12 and 10, respectively.
Todd Withers chased a triple-double with nine points, eight boards and six blocks.
The Eagles will find out their NCAA tournament fate with a selection show Sunday at 10:30 p.m.
